Coal had long been used as a fuel for heating, and also for
industrial uses such as lime burning and bleaching
cloth.

Some was open-cast mining.
In 1608, the manorial court required that coal pits along Wakefield
Road be filled in because they presented a danger to man and horse.

In 1615, cheap coal became a popular fuel as firewood became scarce
and expensive.
Much of the woodland had been reduced by assarting.

The advent of stone and brick chimney flues encouraged the used of
coal as fuel.

With the Industrial Revolution and the introduction of steam
power, there came a huge demand for coal to drive the engines
of the mills.

There are several coal measures, mines and quarries in the
district – mainly east of the Hebble in a narrow strip of land
running from Ainley Top to Queensbury, where the geology is that
of the Lower Coal Measures or the Westphalian
series.

Locally, coal deposits are often found together with clay and
sandstone strata.

In general, the coal seams in the district were thin and did not
produce large-scale quantities.
The Calder & Hebble Navigation brought cheaper coal from outside
the district.

The local Coal Measures stretch from Penistone, through Huddersfield
and Halifax, to Denholme and Shipley.
But these were less productive than the collieries in the thicker
seams around Wakefield and Doncaster.